A five-month battle for one city broke the back of Nazi Germany's eastern army

From August 1942 to February 1943, Soviet and German forces fought street by street through Stalingrad in one of the bloodiest battles in history. When the surrounded German Sixth Army finally surrendered, roughly 91,000 starving soldiers went into Soviet captivity; only a small fraction, some 5,000 to 6,000, are estimated to have ever made it home. The defeat marked the turning point of the war in Europe.

— Antony Beevor, Stalingrad: The Fateful Siege: 1942-1943 — Viking, 1998
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